Mixer vs. Twitch: Which Live-Streaming Platform is Best???

Do you want to make money playing video games? Crafting a costume? Cooking?

Welcome to the amazing and expansive world of streaming!

You can find anything from popular streamers playing your favorite games online to learning how to build an ax out of foam. What if your favorite artist is online painting in watercolor, or another channel has a chef making a fantastic dish you had never dared to try before? Wouldn’t you tune in?

Streaming has over 9.36 billion hours watched on one platform alone. Needless to say, online streaming has become a daily source of entertainment, as well as income, for many!

There can be quite a few options to choose from to begin your streaming journey. When talking about streaming platforms, two primary services come to mind, Twitch, and Mixer.

It can be confusing when trying to decide which one is best for you, so let’s compare both of these amazing platforms!

What is Twitch?

Twitch is a video live streaming service operated by Twitch Interactive, a subsidiary of Amazon.

This platform came into existence back in 2011 as a spinoff of the general-interest streaming platform, Justin.tv. Twitch primarily focuses on live video game streaming, including broadcasts of eSports competitions, in addition to music broadcasts, creative content, and “in real life” streams (now known as ASMR, more broken-down categories in the IRL realm).

This platform itself is straightforward to use.

Content on the site can be viewed either live or via video on demand.

A search bar makes it even easier to find what you’re looking for.

The home page of the platform is where you will find most of your necessary streaming information. The names of more prominent streamers are featured at the top of the home page, and users can also find live streams based on the game, channel, and specific console.

It has a very user-friendly UI, which makes navigating the page very simple and makes finding material a breeze.

The streams are broken down into multiple different categories to fine-tune what you are aiming to watch. The expansive community means that you have a high chance of finding a new channel or interest every day.

It’s also compatible with the major consoles, allowing you to stream from PS4, Xbox One, and your mobile device.

The twitch community is widespread, with over 54,500 individual Twitch channels to choose from. Over 15 million people tune in daily to watch their favorite streamers. The community eclipsed its counterpart and is now the largest and the oldest platform around. Due to both its age and popularity, it has over 15 million daily active users.

Twitch VOD

Twitch also has an excellent VOD (Videos on Demand) system, which makes it easier to locate former broadcasts. Videos on demand are the ability to quickly find a streamer’s past broadcasts, uploads, highlights, and clips make it a much better experience for the viewer.

This is an essential part of streaming to attract new viewers and grow your audience. They are also known for having better analytics. This is important for those that want to stream professionally as it is far easier to understand your audience.

Note:Mixer is actively working to improve these aspects, but at the moment, Twitch is still having better success with both.

As a whole, Twitch is already very well known for what it can offer, as it is now the leading streaming platform out there. They have done an exemplary job of creating a very streamlined system that works well for the masses.

Broader Community, More Competition

Overall, Twitch is a fantastic platform with the potential to have thousands of viewers. The only real downside to Twitch is that it can be a challenge to be seen as a new streamer, with so many continually popping up. With so many small broadcasters competing to break out and get noticed, it is going to make it a lot harder to snag a sizeable following. The main struggle will be how to make your channel stand out amongst the others.

The good thing about the community being so enormous is that you will automatically have the potential to gain traction to reach a wider audience. The sheer size and amount of people that tune in to Twitch daily can definitely help for your channel to get some exposure to new viewers to gain a following.

Once you do gain a following, the opportunity to grow will be huge. This aspect makes Twitch an excellent platform if you are looking to make it big in the streaming community.

You will have to keep in mind, with the number of channels and streamers, it will also be more of a challenge to hit that Affiliate and Partner status.

Partner status is the goal of many streamers that would like to obtain the ability to monetize on a more full-time basis. Twitch pays attention to average viewership on your channel, followers, and other aspects when deciding whether or not your channel should become a Twitch partner.

What is Mixer?

Developed in 2016, Mixer is the youngest streaming platform.

It was purchased in 2017 and became Microsoft’s streaming service. Although young, this platform stands out from the rest by providing an excellent level of interactivity for viewers.

The main page of the platform shows different highlighted streamers, categories, trending games, top streamers, and other popular categories. You can browse by games, search for specific categories, and check out clips of former streams.

Mixer streams include a live video feed, as well as a chatroom where the viewers can communicate in real-time with the streamer and each other.

It is very much a gaming platform, although you will find some other channels, mainly with music or In Real Life (IRL) videos. When a regular broadcaster isn’t streaming, they will probably set up their channel to replay their channels past streams or video clips.

Mixer also streams live broadcasts of videogame industry events, as well as various eSports tournaments and events. It has exclusive broadcast rights to the Paladins Console Series eSports tournaments.

It is ideal for use with Xbox and Windows 10 players due to their compatibility with Microsoft. It’s also slowly becoming the preferred option for new streamers.

Mixer even caught the attention of one of Twitch’s top streamers, Ninja, who ended up leaving twitch to stream on the Mixer platform instead. Ninja’s move over to the new platform put Mixer in the running for many people to discover.

The core functionality of Mixer is very similar to that of Twitch and other streaming platforms.

Microsoft is continually working on Mixer to develop it and make it more user friendly.

MixPlay

One of Mixer’s original features is MixPlay. This helps mixers and streamers to interact simultaneously. Streamers can create on-stream buttons and objects with which viewers can engage.

This means viewers can make decisions for the player at the moment. MixPlay includes a “share controller” feature. This allows a viewer to take control of a streamer’s game with the permission of the streamer. They put great emphasis on interactive live streaming and have focused its product development on building interactive features. In comparison, Twitch does not completely limit itself, but they are more one-way than Mixer.

Additionally, Mixer also offers what is called co-streaming. Four steamers can seamlessly merge their streams, keeping them all in sync, and the combined group of viewers can interact. The streamers don’t have to be playing the same game, but they come across as a single viewing experience for the viewers. Mixer has also placed much emphasis on its stream speed.

It boasts the fastest streaming speed of all live platforms. Indeed, Mixer claims their “streams are so fast and so clear, it’s like everyone is in the same room.” It helps that the broadcaster’s stream and their viewer chat are in sync.

Smaller Community, Less Exposure

On the opposite spectrum of Twitch’s 1.5 million, Mixer only has 69,000 streamers. They are on a much smaller scale than the large audience of Twitch, so getting a more massive viewership could take a bit more time. It does not have the same daily influx of viewer traffic sitting at 30 million per month. At the moment, Mixer streamers may not see the massive influx of viewing numbers as their Twitch counterparts. However, Mixer is continually growing and gaining in popularity.

On a positive note, Mixer is a bit quieter than Twitch, which gives new streamers that are starting fresh a greater chance to build a more solid audience. There is currently less competition amongst small streamers on the Mixer platform. This gives those streamers a better opportunity to stand out, become a Partner, and build an engaged community.

Mixer possibly has more to offer to brand new streamers who haven’t yet built a following, particularly with their interactive features.

Mixer vs. Twitch

It is impossible to say which streaming service is the better selection. Both Twitch and Mixer have their strengths and weaknesses. It is worth exploring to see which platform works best for you. As far as strength in numbers, Twitch is still the leading streaming platform, but Mixer is definitely gaining substantial traction.

The choice is up to you! Do you want to join the masses on the largest streaming service to give that a go on Twitch? Would you rather give Mixer a try and see if you can build an impressive audience with gradual growth? Overall, there is no wrong choice when trying to decide where the best place is to stream.

Still, looking for more information to make a choice? Want to go more in-depth? Over the next few days/weeks, we will be going detailed about all aspects of Mixer, Twitch, and even YouTube!